and the Lord Himself in the Gospel: 'I am the way, the truth, and the life.' Therefore, if He has His substance from no other source, He has it from the Father; if He has it from the Father, He is of one substance with the Father. But if He is not of one substance, then He is not of the Father, but from elsewhere; since whence He is, thence He must have His substance. For all things are out of nothing, but the Son out of the Father; of the two let one choose what he will: either let him grant Him substance from the Father, or let him confess that He subsisted out of nothing. (III, 6) But perhaps the prophetic testimony is objected: 'But who shall declare His generation?' When, therefore, I have not said:
'Declare to me the mode or quality of the divine generation, and utter in human words the secret of so great a mystery,' since I have inquired whence He was born—for the divine generation is unutterable, not unknowable—: for so far is it from being unknowable, that is, it is not unknown whence He is, that both the Father most often testifies that He begot of Himself, and the Son that He was born of the Father, which no Christian at all doubts, as is demonstrated in the Gospel, the Son Himself saying: 'But he who does not believe is already judged, because he has not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God.' Likewise John the Evangelist says: 'And we beheld His glory, glory as of the only-begotten of the Father.' Therefore we conclude our profession in a brief discourse.
If He is truly born of the Father, He is of one substance and is a true Son; but if He is not of one substance, neither is He true God. Or if He is true God and yet is not of the Father's substance, then He too is unbegotten. But because He is not unbegotten, He is therefore a thing made, so as to be supposed to subsist from elsewhere, if He is not of the Father's substance. But far be it so to believe! For we profess the Son to be of one substance with the Father, detesting the Sabellian heresy, which so confounds the Trinity that it says the Father to be the same as the Son, and believes the same to be the Holy Spirit, not preserving the three persons in unity. (III, 7) But perhaps it is objected:
Since the Father is unbegotten and the Son is begotten, it cannot be that the substance of the begotten and the unbegotten is one and the same—since indeed, if the Son were unbegotten just as the Father is unbegotten, then the substance could rather be diverse, because each subsisting from itself would not have a common substance with the other—: but since the unbegotten Father, of Himself, that is, of that which He Himself is (if it can be said at all what that is—nay rather, because, as it is, it cannot be said at all), begot the Son, it appears that the substance of the begetter and the begotten is one, because we truly profess the Son to be God of God, light of light. For that the Father is light, the apostle John is witness, saying: 'For God is light, and in Him there are no darknesses at all.'
Likewise concerning the Son he says: 'And the life was the light of men, and the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.' And below: 'It was the true light, which enlightens every man coming into this world.' Whence it appears that the Father and the Son are of one substance, since the substance of the light and of its radiance cannot be diverse—namely, of that which begets of itself and of that which exists from the begetter. Finally, lest anyone introduce a diversity of natural light between the Father and the Son, therefore the apostle says of the same Son: 'Who, being the splendor of the glory and the figure of His substance.'
In which He is most evidently taught to be coeternal with the Father, inseparable from the Father, and of one substance with Him, since the splendor is ever coeternal with the light, since the splendor was never separated from the light, since the splendor can never be diverse from the light in the nature of substance. For He who is the splendor of the light, the same is also the power of God the Father; therefore eternal because of the eternity of the power, inseparable because of the unity of the brightness. And this is what we faithfully profess: that the Son was born of the Father's substance, just as the Father God Himself gives most plain testimony.
Who, in order to show that He had begotten His own Son of the substance of His ineffable nature, for the instructing of our frail ignorance, that He might raise us from visible things to invisible, drew the term of earthly nativity as an example for the divine generation, saying: 'From the womb before the day-star I begot Thee.' What could divinity deign to utter more clearly, more brilliantly—by what tokens, by what examples of existing things could it intimate the propriety of generation—than that by the appellation of 'womb' it should show forth the propriety of generation? Not because He is composed of bodily members or distinguished by any lineaments of limbs;
but because we could not otherwise perceive by the hearing of the mind the truth of the divine generation, unless we were prompted by the term of the human womb, so that it could no longer be doubted that He was born of the substance of God, who is established to have come forth from the Father's womb. (III, 8) Believing therefore that God the Father, impassibly, begot the Son of His own substance, we do not say either that the substance itself was divided in the Son, or that it suffered diminution in the Father, and through this could be subject to the defect of passion. For far be it from us either to suppose or to think such things of God, since we faithfully profess that the perfect Father begot the perfect Son without diminution of Himself, without any derivation, without any infirmity of passion at all.
For whoever objects against God that, if He begot from His own self, He suffered the defect of division, may equally say that He felt toil when He created all things, and that for this reason He rested on the seventh day from all His work. But neither in begetting did He feel any suffering or diminution of Himself, nor in creating all things did He undergo any weariness. And indeed, that the impassibility of the divine generation might be made still more evident to us, we have received that the Son must be confessed as God from God, Light from Light.
If then in the producing of visible and worldly light no such thing is found—that when light is taken from light and arises through a certain birth of generation, the very source of light, which from itself gave another light, is shown to be neither diminished nor to suffer any loss whatever of the light ministered from itself—how much more rightly and better is it to be believed concerning the nature of the divine and ineffable Light, which, begetting light from its own self, could in no way be diminished! Hence the Son is equal to the Father, not born in time but coeternal with His begetter, just as the splendor begotten from fire is shown to be of the same age as that which begets it.
Let this suffice to have been said concerning the equality of the Father and the Son, and concerning the unity of substance, so far as the requirement of brevity permits. (III, 9) It remains for us to speak concerning the Holy Spirit, whom we believe to be consubstantial, coequal, and coeternal with the Father and the Son, and to confirm it by testimonies. For although this venerable Trinity is distinguished in persons and names, yet it is not on this account to be believed to differ from itself or from its own eternity; but the divinity that abides before the ages is truly and properly believed to be in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and it can neither be divided by our interpretations, nor, conversely, can that Trinity be confounded by being turned into one person. This is the full faith, this is our belief.
Therefore we do not allow that there be reckoned or called gods, but we confess one God in the aforesaid persons and names. For the indescribable divinity presented itself within names and persons, not that it could be confined or comprehended even by words; but in order that what it was might be known, it gave to believers a knowledge of itself in part—so far as the narrow limits of the human mind could grasp—the prophet saying: «Unless you believe, you will not understand.» There is therefore one deity of the Trinity, and in the use of this name there is a signification of one substance, not of one person. And to prove this to the faithful, the divinity itself was always present in testimony of itself by many and most frequent attestations.
Let it then be permitted, for the sake of brevity, to bring forth a few things out of many, since the proof of the true majesty, although it possesses a multitude of testimonies, yet does not need their multitude, for to the one who believes a few suffice. (III, 10) First then, from the books of the Old Testament, and afterward also of the New, we shall teach that the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are of one substance, the book of Genesis thus beginning: «In the beginning God made heaven and earth; but the earth was invisible and unformed, and darkness was over the abyss, and the Spirit of God was borne over the waters.» That «beginning» is He who, when the Jews asked who He was, said: «The beginning, who also speak to you.»
Now the Spirit of God was borne over the waters as Creator, sustaining the creature by the power of His might, so that, about to produce from these all living things, He Himself might furnish to the raw elements the fosterings of their proper fire; and that even then, with the mystery of baptism shining forth, the nature of the liquid might receive the power of sanctification, and might bring forth the first animated bodies to life. David accordingly testifies, by the inspiration of God: «By the word of the Lord the heavens were established, and by the Spirit of His mouth all their power.» See how full the brevity is, and how clearly it recurs to the sacrament of unity: placing the Father in «the Lord,» the Son in the signification of «the word,» he named the Holy Spirit as «from the mouth of the Most High.» And lest...
...an utterance be understood in «the word,» he asserts that the heavens were established through Him; and lest a mere breath be reckoned in «the Spirit,» he demonstrated in Him the fullness of heavenly power. For where there is power, there a subsisting person necessarily exists; where «all» their power is signified—not taken away from the Father and the Son, but consummated in the Holy Spirit—it is not that He alone has what is in the Father and the Son, but that He has the whole together with both. (III, 11) And again, when the Lord was speaking of the calling of the nations, proclaiming the Holy Spirit within the one name of the divinity, He said: «Go, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.» And again, the apostle, praying heavenly things for the Corinthians, added these words:
«The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.» And that we may confess more openly the unity of substance in this Trinity, this also is to be considered by us: how God, when He was arranging the creation of the world and of man, showed forth the mystery of the Trinity, saying: «Let us make man according to our image and likeness.» When He says «our,» He shows assuredly that it is not one; but when He brings forth «image and likeness,» He intimates the equality in the distinction of persons, so that in the same work there may be an open recognition of the Trinity, in which neither is the plurality empty nor the likeness discordant—since the following words also speak thus:
«And God said, and He made, and God blessed.» And it is necessary that the author of all creation be one God. This rule of faith the ancient blessing through Moses sets forth and confirms, by which he is commanded to bless the people with the sacrament of a threefold invocation. For God said to Moses: «Thus shall you bless My people, and I will bless them: The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face to shine upon you and have mercy on you; the Lord lift up His face upon you and give you peace.» This very thing the prophet David affirms, saying: «May God, our God, bless us; may God bless us, and let all the ends of the earth fear Him.»
This unity of the Trinity the supernal powers of the angels venerate with a hymn, and singing three times over with unceasing voice «Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabaoth,» they exalt His glory unto the summit of the one dominion. And that this may be impressed yet more openly upon the senses of the faithful, we bring forward Paul, who was privy to the heavenly mysteries. For he says: «Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are diversities of ministries, but the same Lord; and there are diversities of workings, but the same God who gives, who works all things in all.» And certainly he taught that these differences of distributions are wrought by the Holy Spirit according to the quality and merit of those who partake:
for when He was apportioning the differences of these very graces, He concluded at the end, saying: «But all these things one and the same Spirit works, dividing to each his own as He wills.» Whence no room for ambiguity is left, but that it is most plainly shown that the Holy Spirit is both God and the author of His own will, who is demonstrated to work all things and to bestow the gifts of the divine dispensation according to the judgment of His own will; for where a voluntary distribution of graces is proclaimed, no condition of servitude can be perceived: for servitude is to be understood in a creature, but in the Trinity, dominion and freedom.
And that we may yet more clearly than light teach that the Holy Spirit is of one divinity with the Father and the Son, it is confirmed by the testimony of John the Evangelist. For he says: «There are three who bear witness in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one.» Did he say: «Three sundered in a quality of difference, or divided by any grades of diversity whatever by a long interval of separation»? No, but «three,» he says, «are one.» (III, 12) And that the Holy Spirit may yet more and more be shown to be one divinity with the Father and the Son in the creation of all things, you have the Holy Spirit as Creator in the book of Job: «The divine Spirit,» he says, «it is that made me, and the Spirit of the Almighty teaches me.» And David says:
«Send forth Your Spirit, and they shall be created, and You shall renew the face of the earth.» If renewal and recreation will be through the Spirit, without doubt the beginning of creation also was not without the Spirit. After creation, then, let us show that the Holy Spirit also gives life, just as the Father and the Son do. Indeed, concerning the person of the Father the apostle relates: «I testify in the sight of God, who gives life to all things.» And Christ gives life: «My sheep,» He says, «hear My voice, and I give them eternal life.» And we are made alive by the Holy Spirit, the Lord Himself saying: «It is the Spirit that gives life.» Behold, the one life-giving of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit has been openly shown.
(III, 13) That foreknowledge of all things is in the Lord, and the knowledge of hidden things—though no Christian is ignorant of it—nevertheless it must be shown from the book of Daniel: «O God,» he says, «who are the knower of hidden things, who are foreknowing of all things before they are born.» This same foreknowledge is in Christ, as the Evangelist relates: «But from the beginning Jesus knew who would betray Him and who they were that did not believe in Him.» And that He is the knower of hidden things is manifest from this, when, exposing the obscure designs of the Jews, He said: «Why do you think evil in your hearts?» Likewise He Himself made manifest that the Holy Spirit foreknows all things, saying to the apostles:
«When the Spirit of truth comes, He will teach you all things and will announce to you the things to come.» He who is declared to announce things to come is not doubted to foreknow all things, since He Himself searches the depths of God and knows all the things that are in God, as Paul recounts, saying: «For the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.» Likewise in the same place: «For just as no one of men knows the things of a man except the spirit which is in him, so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.» (III, 14) But to understand the power of the Holy Spirit, let us bring forth a few of the dreadful things. A deceitful disciple had sold a possession, as it is written in the Acts of the Apostles, and, having suppressed a part of the money, laid the remainder for the whole before the feet of the apostles:
he offended the Holy Spirit, whom he thought to be hidden. But what did blessed Peter say to him at once? «Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart, that you should lie to the Holy Spirit?» And further on: «You have not lied to men, but to God.» And so, struck by the power of Him to whom he had wished to lie, he expired. What blessed Peter wishes the Holy Spirit to be understood to be is surely clear, when he says: «You have not lied to men, but to God.» It is manifest, therefore, that whoever lies to the Holy Spirit lies to God, and whoever believes in the Holy Spirit believes in God. Something of this kind—nay, something stronger—the Lord showed in the Gospel: «Every sin and blasphemy is forgiven to men;
but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this age nor in the age to come.» Behold, by a dreadful sentence He says that the sin is unforgivable for the one who has blasphemed against the Holy Spirit. Compare with this sentence that which is written in the book of Kings: «If a man sin by sinning against a man, they will pray for him; but if he sin against God, who will pray for him?» If, then, to blaspheme against the Holy Spirit and to sin against God is alike an inexpiable crime, every man already recognizes how great the Holy Spirit is. (III, 15) That God is present everywhere and fills all things, we learn from the mouth of Isaiah: «I,» he says, «am God drawing near, and not from afar.
If a man hide himself in secret places, shall I then not see him? Do I not fill heaven and earth?» And what does the Savior say in the Gospel concerning His own presence everywhere? «Wherever,» He says, «two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I also in their midst.» Concerning the Holy Spirit likewise, that He is present everywhere, the prophet says in the person of God: «I am in you, and My Spirit stands in your midst.» And Solomon says: «The Spirit of the Lord has filled the world, and that which contains all things has knowledge of the voice.» Likewise David says: «Where shall I go from Your Spirit, and where shall I flee from Your face? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; if I descend into hell, You are present;
if I take my wings straight on and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me and Your right hand shall hold me.» (III, 16) God dwells in His saints according to the promise by which He had said: «I will dwell in them.» And that the Lord Jesus says in the Gospel: «Abide in Me, and I in you,» Paul proves this, saying: «Do you not know that Jesus Christ is in you?» But all this is fulfilled in the indwelling of the Spirit, as John recounts: «By this,» he says, «we know that He is in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.» Likewise Paul: «Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?» And again he says: «Glorify and bear God in your body.» What God?
Surely the Holy Spirit, whose temple we are seen to be. (III, 17) For that the Father reproves, the Son reproves, the Holy Spirit reproves, is to be proved thus: In the forty-ninth Psalm it is read: «But to the sinner God says»; and further on: «I will reprove you and set you before your own face.» David likewise, praying, says to Christ: «O Lord, reprove me not in Your anger,» since He Himself is to come to reprove all flesh. But what does the Savior say in the Gospel concerning the Holy Spirit? «When the Paraclete comes,» He says, «He will reprove the world concerning sin, concerning righteousness, and concerning judgment.» Foreseeing this, David cried out to the Lord: «Where shall I go from Your Spirit, and where shall I flee from Your face?»
(III, 18) For that the Father is good, the Son is good, the Holy Spirit is good, is thus proved. The prophet says: «You are good, O Lord, and in Your goodness teach me Your statutes.» And concerning Himself the Only-begotten says: «I am the good shepherd.» Concerning the Holy Spirit likewise David says in the Psalm: «Your good Spirit shall lead me into the land of uprightness.» (III, 19) But who could keep silence about that dignity of the Holy Spirit? For the ancient prophets used to cry out: «Thus says the Lord.» This utterance Christ, when He came, recalled to His own person, saying: «But I say to you.» And what did the new prophets cry out? Just as Agabus the prophet in the Acts of the Apostles: «Thus says the Holy Spirit,» and Paul to Timothy:
«The Spirit,» he says, «expressly says»—which voice altogether demonstrates the indifference (sameness of nature) of the Trinity. Paul says that he was called and sent by God the Father and Christ: «Paul,» he says, «an apostle, not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father.» But in the Acts of the Apostles he says that he was set apart and sent by the Holy Spirit; for it is thus written: «The Holy Spirit says: Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.» And a little after: «They,» he says, «being sent by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia.» Likewise in the same book: «Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has appointed you bishops.»
(III, 20) But let no one esteem anything contemptible of the Holy Spirit, because He is called «Paraclete.» For «Paraclete» is «advocate,» or rather «comforter,» according to the Latin tongue: which appellation is common also to the Son of God, as John says: «These things,» he says, «I write to you, that you sin not; but if anyone sin, we have a Paraclete with the Father, Jesus Christ.» For the Lord Himself also, when He says to the apostles: «The Father will send you another Paraclete,» without doubt, when He says «another Paraclete,» manifests Himself also to be a Paraclete. But neither is this name of «Paraclete» foreign to the Father; for it is a name of beneficence, not of nature. Indeed, Paul thus writes to the Corinthians:
«Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all consolation, who consoles us.» And although the Father is called consoler, the Son is called consoler, the Holy Spirit also is called consoler, yet one consolation is granted to us by the Trinity, just as also one remission of sins, the apostle affirming: «You were washed,» he says, «and you were justified and you were sanctified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.» We could bring forth still more testimonies from the divine Scriptures, which, in accordance with the sacrament of baptism, manifest the Trinity as of one glory, operation, and power; but because to the wise the understanding of these things is full, we have passed over many for the sake of brevity.
(III, 21) Let us then make a recapitulation of our sayings. If the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father, if He sets free, if He is Lord and sanctifies, if He creates with the Father and the Son and if He gives life, if He has foreknowledge with the Father and the Son, if He is everywhere and fills all things, if He dwells in the elect, if He reproves the world, if He judges, if He is good and upright, if of Him it is cried «Thus says the Holy Spirit,» if He appoints prophets, if He sends apostles, if He sets bishops over the church, if He is comforter, if He dispenses all things as He wills, if He washes and justifies, if He kills those who tempt Him, if he who has blasphemed Him has no remission, neither in this age nor in the age to come—which is surely proper to God:
since these things are so, why is it doubted concerning Him that He is God, since by the greatness of His works He Himself manifests what He is: namely that He is by no means foreign to the majesty of the Father and the Son, who is not foreign to the working of mighty deeds. In vain is the name of divinity denied to Him whose power cannot be denied; in vain am I forbidden to venerate Him with the Father and the Son, whom I am required to confess with the Father and the Son. If He confers upon me, together with the Father and the Son, the remission of sins, confers sanctification and life everlasting, I am too ungrateful and impious if I do not render glory to Him together with the Father and the Son. Or if He is not to be worshiped together with the Father and the Son, then neither is He to be confessed in baptism:
but if He is by all means to be confessed according to the word of the Lord and the tradition of the apostles, lest the faith be half-complete, who can forbid me from His worship? For in whom I am commanded to believe, to Him also I will rightly make supplication. I will therefore adore the Father, I will adore also the Son, I will adore also the Holy Spirit with one and the same veneration. But if anyone thinks this hard, let him hear how David exhorts the faithful to the worship of God: «Adore,» he says, «His footstool.» If it is of religion to adore His footstool, how much more religious is it if His Spirit be adored!—that Spirit indeed whom blessed Peter proclaimed in such sublimity, saying: «the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, into whom the angels desire to look.»
If the angels desire to gaze upon Him, how much more ought we mortal men not to despise Him, lest perchance it be said to us also, as it was said to the Jews: «You always resisted the Holy Spirit, as did also your fathers.» (III, 21) But if these things, so great and such as they are, do not incline the soul to venerate the Holy Spirit, receive in addition something stronger. For Paul thus instructs the prophets of the church, in whom indeed and through whom the Holy Spirit was speaking: «If,» he says, «all prophesy, and there enter some unbeliever or untaught person, he is convinced by all, he is examined by all, the hidden things of his heart are made manifest; and then, falling on his face, he will adore God, declaring that truly God is in you.»
And surely it is the Holy Spirit who is in those who prophesy. If, then, unbelievers fall on their face and adore the Holy Spirit, compelled, and confess Him unwillingly, how much more does it profit the faithful that they should adore the Holy Spirit voluntarily and from affection. But the Holy Spirit is adored, not as if separately after the manner of the heathen—just as neither is the Son adored separately, because He is at the right hand of the Father—but when we adore the Father, we believe that we adore both the Son and the Holy Spirit, because also when we invoke the Son, we believe that we invoke the Father, and when we ask the Father, we are confident that we are heard by the Son, just as the Lord Himself said: «Whatever you ask the Father in My name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son»;